


Counting Sharks

by SomethingFishy



Category: Free!
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-21
Updated: 2014-12-21
Packaged: 2018-03-02 14:48:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2816024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SomethingFishy/pseuds/SomethingFishy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Inspired by the Sugar Cake Drama CD where Sousuke and Rin count sharks to sleep.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Counting Sharks

**Author's Note:**

> I actually wrote this implying SouRinTori but it can be read without it.

It wasn't often that Ai got to spend the night in his sempai's room. Rin had moved across the hall at the beginning of the year, effectively limiting the amount of times they could stay up until four am talking about the weirdest things, to almost zero. Sometimes they lucked out, though, and Rin would barge into Ai's room, yelling dibs on the underclassman's attention for the night. 

Most of the time, those nights would be filled with video games, swearing, friendly fighting and movies. They would end when Rin fell asleep around one in the morning, laid out on the floor, due to his hard schedule of classes and training. Ai would cover him with a blanket, then sneak out of his sempai's room and back into his own, letting Rin sleep in peace.

When Sousuke came along, the nights where Ai stayed in their dorm room seemed to actually increase on average. Sousuke would wear him down in their one-on-one training sessions to the point that Sousuke would barely be able to drag him back to a dorm and _Ai_ was the one who ended up sleeping face down on the floor. Plus, it always seemed that Rin wanted to share his and Sousuke's friendship with him, determined to keep Ai in the loop, even when he really couldn't keep up. The three of them quickly became good friends, and enjoyed the time they spent goofing off together. Eternal insomniac Rin and night owl Ai never had any trouble keeping each other entertained after Sousuke fell asleep. 

Some nights though, it would be Ai who was the one trying to sleep first. He'd lay out on the futon the older boys kept in the closet for him and steadily ignore them until the lights were off and everyone was quiet. 

This night was one of those nights, Ai curled up under his blanket, facing Rin, who was staring at the bunk above him and trying to relax enough to sleep. 

"Oi, Ai, you awake?" He whispered, turning to face the younger boy. 

Ai had his eyes closed, and he was breathing evenly. He had been for the past half hour, loose and relaxed and very obviously asleep. 

"Nah, he's out cold," Sousuke whispered back, from the top bunk.

"How does he do that? Just sleep out of sheer will power alone?" Rin grumbled, rolling on his side to stare the grey haired boy down. 

"Must be habit, having to deal with you all last year." Sousuke deadpanned. 

Rin grumbled, raising his foot to press against the mattress above him. Sousuke swung his arm down, making a half hearted swipe at Rin's leg. Rin shifted, pressing his foot harder. 

"Maybe he counts sheep or something," Sousuke amended, to get Rin to drop his foot from where he was digging it into Sousuke's back.

"That's what my mom used to tell me to do when I was younger. It was always sharks instead of sheep though..." Rin said, a little too loud. Ai shifted in his sleep, rolling into his other side, and pressing his face into his pillow. Both older boys froze, waiting a full thirty seconds before going back to whispering. 

"Why sharks?"

"Sharks are cool. Got a problem with that?"

"You're a shark nerd, Rin."

"Fucking fight me." 

Sousuke shifted, rolling on his stomach and leaning closer to the edge of his bunk. "Why not try counting sharks now? Maybe it'll put the both of us to sleep." 

"Mm, maybe." Rin said, before starting to count. "One shark, two sharks, three sharks..." He continued for a while, drifting for a moment then coming back to alertness. "Forty four sharks..."

"Forty five," Sousuke corrected. 

"Do you want me to do this counting thing or not?" Rin snapped, quietly, minding the fact that the lightest sleeper was mere inches away from him. 

"Only if you can do it right," Sousuke snarked. 

"Forty six sharks," Rin continued, talking over him. 

Sousuke returned the favor, clearly speaking over him, "Forty seven sharks."

The two of them got louder and louder, eventually sitting up and getting in each other's faces. They got up to fifty-nine before both of them were cut off by an angry voice sharply saying "Sixty sharks and one _shut the fuck up._ "

Both boys turned to look at Ai, who was glaring murder from his futon on the floor. Rin went about as red as his hair, averting his eyes and slowly sinking back into his bed. Sousuke sheepishly slipped back up into his bunk, feeling a little guilty for waking the youngest one up. 

Ai let out a grunt, grumbling, "Don't you guys look at me like that. I won't be able to stay mad at you." He huffed, jerking his blanket up to his ears. 

Rin reached out, sliding his fingers through Ai's hair, "Just go back to sleep, Ai. We're sorry we woke you up." Sousuke nodded, making an apologetic face to make Ai smile a little.

The three of them settled back into bed, going quiet. Ai passed out first, and Sousuke closely followed. Rin was left in silence for another hour, but Ai had curled closer to his bunk, allowing the older boy to continue stroking his hair. 

Even though Rin was the last one to sleep, he was pretty comfortable, happy to just be with his friends.


End file.
